Bale, bāl, v.t. to throw out water [See Bail.]
Bale, bāl, n. evil, injury, mischief: misery: woe.—adj. Bale′ful, full of misery, destructive: full of sorrow, sad.—adv. Bale′fully.—n. Bale′fulness.—Bliss and bale are often alliteratively opposed; also Boot and bale. [A.S. bealu; Old High Ger. balo; Ice. böl.]
Bale, bāl, n. (arch.—Morris) a fire, funeral pyre: (Scot.) a beacon-fire.—n. Bale′-fire, a blazing fire: a beacon-fire: a bonfire. Spenser confounds with Bale, woe. [A.S. bæl; Scand. bál; cog. with Gr. phalos, bright. See Beltane.]
Baleen, bā-lēn′, n. the whalebone of commerce. [Fr.—L. balæna, whale.]
Balistraria, bal-is-trār′i-a, n. an aperture or loophole in the wall of a fortification through which crossbowmen might discharge their bolts.—n. Bal′ister (obs.), name for an arbalester or crossbowman, also an arbalest or crossbow itself. [Low L. ballistrarius, balistra, a variant form of ballista, a crossbow.]
Balk, Baulk, bawk, n. a ridge left unploughed, intentionally or through carelessness: (obs.) an omission: squared timber: a tie-beam of a house, stretching from wall to wall, esp. when laid so as to form a loft, 'the balks:' (obs.) the beam of a balance: the rope by which fishing-nets are fastened together: a hindrance or disappointment.—v.t. to ignore, pass over: refuse: avoid: let slip: to check, disappoint, or elude: to meet arguments with objections.—v.i. to swerve, pull up: (Spens.) lie out of the way.—n. Balk′-line, in billiards, a line drawn across the table 28½ inches from the face of the bottom cushion—a ball is said to be in balk when within this space. [A.S. balca, ridge; Old High Ger. balcho.]
Ball, bawl, n. anything round: any celestial body, esp. the 'globe:' the golden orb borne with the sceptre as the emblem of sovereignty: a globular body to play with in tennis, football, golf, billiards, &c.: any rounded protuberant part of the body: a bullet, or any missile thrown from an engine of war: a rounded mass of anything: a throw or delivery of the ball at cricket: a well-known game played with a ball.—v.i. to gather itself into a ball, become clogged.—ns. Ball′-cart′ridge, a cartridge containing both powder and ball [Ball and Cartridge]; Ball′-cock, the stopcock of a cistern, attached to one end of a lever, at the other end of which is a hollow metal ball which rises and falls with the
Ball, bawl, n. an entertainment of dancing.—n. Ball′room.—To open the ball, to begin the dancing, to begin operations. [O. Fr. bal, baller, to dance—Low L. ballare, referred by some to Gr. ballizein.]